Norwegian Dawn Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Last year in February we took a 10 day cruise of the Southern Caribbean on Celebrity Reflection. That cruise had five sea days and was focused around Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. So this year we decided on another 10 day Southern Caribbean and planned to see several southern islands to which we had not been. Both cruises were booked approximately 1 1/2 years in advance. Our plans were somewhat stymied when several months after booking we received an email from NCL saying that there was a major itinerary change, Three of the islands that we had not been to were being removed from the itinerary and the ABC islands were being substituted. Somewhat disappointed since we had just been to the ABCs. On this trip Curacao was only a half day (6 to 1).
I will give comments on aspects of the Dawn cruise as well as how they compared to Celebrity:
Ship: This is not a fair comparison because Dawn is a much older ship than Reflection. However, Dawn is not one of my favorite ships. It has several you-can't-get-there-from-here decks. Also, I prefer a ship that has a bar at the stern overlooking the ocean, which Dawn does not have.
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
Average. In spite of being a mini-suite, the balcony table was the smallest I have encountered. Maybe a foot square. No way for breakfast on the balcony. One "advantage" of a mini-suite is having a small tub. From my experience the only thing the tub does is interfere with having a shower without needless potential falls. Also, as pointed out in several prior reviews, do not neglect to bring along a power strip of some sort. In the main cabin there is a single 110v outlet. Hard to imagine what the ship designers were thinking. Also this evidently isn't something that gets remedied when the ship goes in for refurbishment.